Did College Football Playoff Committee Get it Right in Week 12 Rankings?

What the College Football Playoff Committee Got Right

First and foremost, there was no way that Alabama was going to be moving out of the top spot after they came out of the other side of Week 11 as the only undefeated Power Five team left in the FBS. And it is hard to fault the decision of the College Football Playoff committee to put Clemson ahead of Louisville in this week’s rankings, given the Tigers’ 42-36 victory head-to-head over the Cardinals back on the first day of October. At this moment things are setting up for a 2016 College Football Playoff championship rematch between Alabama and Clemson in the Peach Bowl.

Looking beyond the top five, the teams that comprise the rest of the top ten are the usual suspects one might have expected to see. Washington is a logical choice to remain in striking distance at sixth, given that they remain the favorite in the Pac-12 at this point despite their loss to USC. The cluster of Pac-12 South teams between 10th and 13th seems like a fair place to rate the three teams that could still win the division, reflecting the overall strength of the conference in 2016.

The absence of both ACC Coastal leaders, North Carolina and Virginia Tech, seems completely reasonable as well after both the Tar Heels and the Hokies suffered second conference losses last week. In general the College Football Playoff committee offered a relatively reasonable Top 25 this week. And yet, they certainly didn’t get everything right.